Seafloor Spreading Theory By Harry Hess

Harry hess argues that the continents had once been one and have drifted apart.

Seafloor spreading theory by harry hess.

Hess theory was that new seafloor is formed when magma is forced upward toward the surface at a mid ocean ridge. It was determined that the seafloor basalt is youngest at mid ocean ridges and oldest adjacent to continents. Harry hammond hess may 24 1906 august 25 1969 was an american geologist and a united states navy officer in world war ii who is considered one of the founding fathers of the unifying theory of plate tectonics he is best known for his theories on sea floor spreading specifically work on relationships between island arcs seafloor gravity anomalies and serpentinized peridotite. Harry hess 1906 1969 in his navy uniform as captain of the assault transport cape johnson during world war ii.

If spreading continues past the incipient stage described above two of the rift arms will open while the third arm stops opening and becomes a failed rift or aulacogen. On the basis of tharp s efforts and other new discoveries about the deep ocean floor hess postulated that molten material from earth s mantle continuously wells up along the crests of the mid ocean ridges that wind for nearly 80 000 km. Hess proposes sea floor spreading 1960. The seafloor spreading hypothesis was proposed by the american geophysicist harry h.

After the war he remained active in the naval reserve reaching the rank of rear admiral. Harry hess published the history of ocean basins in 1962 outlining a theory of how tectonic plates can move which was later called sea floor spreading. With the discovery of plate tectonics and the mapping of the earth. He identified the presence of mid ocean ridges and that ocean trenches are where ocean floor is destroyed and recycled.

Harry hess was right. The theory of seafloor spreading the mid ocean ridge is where the seafloor spreading occurs in which tectonic plates large slabs of earth s lithosphere split apart from each other.